Teaching Engagements
The bodhisattva is a spiritual practitioner who takes a vow to dedicate their path not just to their own development, their own well-being, their own awakening, but also for the benefit of others.
During this six-week online course with teachers Ethan Nichtern, Maho Kawachi, Lou Sharma, and Eric Gerard, we will explore the path of the bodhisattva and how we can truly be of benefit to others while also taking care of ourselves in the process.
We will focus on the meditative technique of tonglen, or “sending and taking” compassion meditation, which has been demonstrated by practitioners, neuroscientists, and psychologists alike to be profoundly transformative.
We'll also take a deep dive on the foundational teachings of The Four Great Vows of Zen, The Four Styles of Idiot Compassion, Spiritual Bypassing, The Six Paramitas, and The Heart Sutra.
A silent meditation retreat with Ethan Nichtern, Maho Kawachi and Lou Sharma
This retreat will focus on practices and teachings related to the path of the Bodhisattva, a body of teachings all about a compassionate and wise way of being in world in turmoil.
This year we will focus on the theme of Lineage. Each year of this retreat is similarly structured, and designed to be welcoming to new students, while still offering a richness of new practices and insights for returning participants. This retreat will include three full days of silence practice so that we can go much deeper into our own experience and support each other’s practice in a way we almost never get to do when we’re in our daily grinds. On the last full day of retreat, we take more time to process the teachings together in an interpersonal and communal way.